


Getting To Know You

by Dreamin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adult Hermione Granger, F/M, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Head Librarian Hermione Granger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:13:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23423743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamin/pseuds/Dreamin
Summary: Sometimes, all it takes is to see someone in a different light.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 4
Kudos: 149





	Getting To Know You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lilsherlockian1975](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilsherlockian1975/gifts).



> Inspired by a list of dialogue prompts I found on Tumblr.

_September 9th_

“You do realize, Ms. Granger, that it’s three in the morning?”

Hermione smiled to herself, not taking her eyes off the book she was reading. She sat cross-legged on top of one of the tables in the library, the heavy leather-bound book in her lap, and a trio of candles hovering above her to give her just enough light to read by while the rest of the library was dark. “I’m well aware, Professor. Why do you think the library doesn’t open until noon on Saturdays?” She looked up just in time to see Snape roll his eyes. “The question is, do **you** realize it’s three in the morning?”

“I only just now finished cleaning the Potions classroom. I thought I had anticipated every possible way a student could botch today’s potion, but I was sorely mistaken.” He leaned against the table, his arms crossed. “I won’t happen again.”

She grinned cheekily. “Underestimating your students or staying up till three?”

“The former. The latter can’t be helped.”

“You stay up this late frequently?” Hermione asked, one eyebrow raised. “I can only manage it once a week. Merlin’s teeth, no wonder you’re such an insufferable bastard – you’re chronically sleep-deprived.”

He stared at her a moment, speechless, but before Hermione could congratulate herself on that feat, he scowled. “Consider yourself fortunate, Ms. Granger-”

“Hermione,” she cut in, her cheeky grin back.

“Pardon?”

“Call me Hermione. We’ve been colleagues for two years, I think it’s time we started calling each other by our first names.”

He rolled his eyes. “As I was saying, consider yourself fortunate, Ms. Granger – you are the only former student I would allow to call me an ‘insufferable bastard’ to my face.”

“Because it’s true?” she asked, her grin widening.

“Because, despite your occasional display of childishness, I know I have your respect.” He straightened. “Goodnight, Ms. Granger.”

She tried to mimic his stoicism, though she knew she couldn’t keep the amusement out of her eyes. “Goodnight, Severus.”

He rolled his eyes again then turned and walked away, his robes billowing behind him.

Hermione stuck out her tongue at his retreating back.

“I don’t need Legilimency to know what you’re doing, Ms. Granger,” he said smugly as he walked out of the library.

“Bastard,” she muttered, feeling her cheeks warm. _I have to remember to be more careful around him._

* * *

_September 14th_

“Why are you helping me? Not that I’m complaining.”

Hermione chuckled as she scrubbed a cauldron by hand. “Because if I don’t, you’ll be at this until three again. It’s already past eleven.”

Severus was busy scrubbing another cauldron. “How did you even know I needed help?”

“I heard two of your Advanced Potions students talking about the mess.” She paused to grin at him. “Really, Severus? Felix Felicitus and Draught of Sleeping Death in the same class?”

“Emerson told me he’d cleaned his cauldron thoroughly,” he muttered. “I won’t trust him so readily next time. Hufflepuffs are supposed to be hard workers.”

“There are lazy Hufflepuffs just like there are apprehensive Gryffindors. Not everyone perfectly fits in the molds they’re assigned as first years.”

Severus paused in his cleaning to look at her. “You did. You grew into your Gryffindor traits more and more each year. At first, I wondered why you weren’t sorted into Ravenclaw, but it soon became plain to see you were a lioness when it came to defending who and what you believed in.”

She stared at him. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

He smirked. “You were still an insufferable know-it-all, of course.”

“Of course,” she said, grinning to herself as she dried the now-clean cauldron. “And you were an overgrown bat. But then, that hasn’t changed.”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t remember you being this cheeky, it must be Potter and Weasley’s influence rubbing off on you.”

She smiled a bit. “Or maybe you’re only now getting to know the real me, just like I’m getting to know the real you.”

“Perish the thought,” he muttered as he handed her another cauldron.

* * *

_November 20th_

“Was that supposed to hurt?”

Hermione wanted to knock the smirk right off his face. They were standing on the empty Quidditch pitch ten paces apart. The wind was so strong and bitter cold that Severus had forgone his robes in favor of a woolen muggle overcoat (black, of course), and Hermione had braided her hair and charmed it into place to keep it out of her eyes. He was supposed to be teaching her how to be a better duelist but had spent most of the past half-hour insulting her efforts.

Fuming, she sent several rapid-fire curses at him, but he anticipated them all, even the wordless ones, and she had to duck all of his curses with only millimeters to spare. “It’s not bloody fair when you’re using Legilimency against me,” she said after she caught her breath.

He smirked again. “A wizard uses every magical means at their disposal, Ms. Granger.”

That did it. “Hermione!” she growled then she pointed her wand at him. “Expelliarmus!”

Severus’ ebony wand flew out of his hand to land somewhere in the grass but he seemed completely unconcerned. “Copying your friend’s style, I see,” he said nonchalantly.

“It worked, didn’t it?” she said as she approached him, scowling.

“Only because I allowed it. You’re right, not every witch or wizard is a Legilimens, but you still telegraph every move you are about to make – your eyes, your mouth, your body language, all of it gives you away.”

 _Now who’s giving themselves away?_ “You know, Severus,” she murmured as she came up to him, “only someone who was watching me **very** closely would notice those things.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Of course I was watching you closely, we’re dueling.”

“We certainly are,” she said lightly as she walked off the pitch, grinning to herself.

* * *

_December 26th_

“It’s really not that complicated.”

Severus raised an eyebrow as he stared at the woman who was formerly his pupil, currently his … whatever they were. “The Dewey Decimal System?”

“Yes,” Hermione said, beaming with delight. “Just think – by the time we’re done, this place will be finally, truly **organized**.”

He looked around at the library’s shelves of countless books then back at her. “And you expect this to take how long?”

“We should be done with most of it by New Year’s Eve.”

“It’s Boxing Day.”

“Yes, but it’s just the two of us, no distractions, and we’re very hard-working people.”

 _‘No distractions?’ She’s more of a distraction than anything else here._ “I don’t know why I let you talk me into this,” he muttered.

“Oh, like you had anything better to do with your time,” she said, grinning cheekily. “Docking House points from the kids who stayed or hiding yourself in the dungeons are so much more interesting than helping your friend.”

“Is that what you are?” he asked, smirking, as he started putting books into piles on one of the tables. “I thought you were my occasional pain in the arse.”

“That too,” she said, grinning that cheeky little grin of hers.

He wanted to kiss it off. His eyes widened.

_Shit…_

* * *

_April 3rd_

“Do you regret it?”

“You’ll need to be more specific, Hermione,” Severus said, not looking up from the essay he was grading. _Thank Merlin none of my current students are as verbose as she was._ “I’ve done many regrettable things in my life.” At some point, she had apparently decided that paperwork was something she wanted company for, so it was common for the two of them to silently work in the Potions classroom, him at his desk and her sitting on top of one of the tables, coincidentally the same one she had worked at as his student.

“Meeting Lily.”

He looked up at her, his eyes widening. She had asked the question with a curious tone but the look she gave him now was sympathetic.

“I can understand how you would,” she continued, her tone now just as sympathetic, “since your relationship with her led you to where you are now and Merlin knows you’ve been through hell and back, but all things considered, do you regret it?”

 _She deserves the truth, but what is the truth?_ He took his time deliberating over his answer. Finally, he said, “No. I regret many of the things I did after, but meeting her is not something I regret. I would have been a very different man if she had never come into my life, and I’m not certain he’s a man I would have liked. Lily Evans was my first love and my reason to keep going for so long.”

Hermione nodded. “You thought I was going to ask if you regretted becoming a Death Eater.”

He nodded. “It’s what most people want to know.” He raised one hand to idly rub the scars on his neck, smiling a bit. “I certainly regret how it ended.”

She rolled her eyes fondly then went back to her lists.

* * *

_May 6th_

“You’re in love with her.”

Severus rolled his eyes. “Hermione is a friend, Minerva, nothing more.” Having weekly tea with the Headmistress was quickly becoming quite a chore.

“Since when do you have friends?” she asked, smirking.

“Since your favorite former student decided I needed a carer, apparently.”

“Is that what you think is going on here?” she asked as she sipped her tea.

“She must see me as a dottering old fool,” Severus muttered, ignoring both the tea and the biscuits in front of him.

Minerva chuckled. “I suggest you read a romance novel or two. Or perhaps watch one of those muggle rom-com things. Maybe then you’ll realize exactly why Hermione is acting the way she is.”

He stared at her. “You’re not suggesting-”

She grinned. “That she’s in love with you? Of course.”

“I’m hardly the subject of a young woman’s fantasies.”

“If the young woman in question is Hermione Jane Granger, I think you’ll find that you are.”

He scoffed. “Hermione is no more in love with me than I am with her.”

Minerva smiled knowingly just as there was a knock on the door. “Get that, would you?”

* * *

“How much of that did you hear?”

Hermione’s cheeks were still burning but she managed to control her embarrassment to glare at him. “Good afternoon to you too, Severus.” The last person she had expected to see when she knocked on Minerva’s office door was the man she was hopelessly in love with.

“Save your pleasantries, Hermione,” he said, his voice dangerously, sexily low. “How. Much. Did. You. Hear?”

“If the two of you are going to have a lovers’ spat,” Minerva said, grinning, “would you mind doing it elsewhere? Some of us have work to do.”

Hermione turned to her, utterly confused. “But … my yearly review…”

“You’re doing splendidly, Hermione,” she said, still grinning. “In fact, I’m giving you a raise. Now run along, you and Severus have something to discuss.”

Hermione took one look at Severus’ stern expression and something inside her shrank away from him. “No, we don’t.” She turned to leave but he grasped her upper arm.

“Yes, we do,” he insisted, his voice low.

* * *

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Severus rolled his eyes as he continued to march her towards the dungeon. Her protest was moot – his grip was loose enough that she could have escaped him at any time but she was still walking with him, though not as fast as he would have liked. _Filch is going to come along any minute and this is the last thing I need him to see._

When a moving staircase took them in the direction of the library instead, he took the opportunity to drag her into her office and lock the door behind him.

Hermione wrenched herself free of his grasp. “What the hell are you doing, Severus?”

“Answer the question, Ms. Granger.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. Without his robes, the effect was less intimidating than he would have liked.

She glared at him. “Oh no, we’re not going back to surnames now. You’re going to explain yourself and you’re going to call me Hermione while you do it.”

“I took you out of the Headmistress’s office because I need to know exactly what you heard, or thought you heard, **Hermione**.”

“If that’s the game you want to play, Severus, then fine.” She approached him and he couldn’t help taking a step back – the fire in her chocolate brown eyes was that intense. “I heard everything, every last word.”

His eyes narrowed as he tried not to let his panic show. “So, you heard Minerva’s theory that I’m in love with you.”

“And her theory that I’m in love with you too.”

He shoved that aside for the moment. “Minerva has an overactive imagination.”

She smirked. “On the contrary, I think she’s right on the money.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “At least, she is about me. I’m in love with you, Severus Snape. The question is, what are you going to do about it?”

* * *

“I don’t believe you.”

 _How can any man be so damn stubborn?_ With a growl that made his eyes widen, she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. For a moment, he didn’t move and she was worried he’d push her away then he must have overcome his shock for he pulled her into his arms and proceeded to snog her breathless.

“Is that proof enough, Professor?” she murmured when they came up for air.

He chuckled. “I’m afraid I will need more evidence, Miss Granger, but your opening paragraph is intriguing.”

Hermione rolled her eyes fondly. “Uh huh. And?”

“And?” he echoed playfully.

 _I could kiss him just for that._ “Minerva’s other theory?”

“Ah, yes, that.” There was a twinkle in his dark eyes that she knew would only ever be just for her. “She’s right, of course – I love you, Hermione.”

 _Now I know what elation feels like,_ she thought as she pulled him down for another kiss. _A whole joke shop’s worth of fireworks going off inside me._


End file.
